[UMA-SRE-20110079] Files relating to Stawell District Hospital and Portland Primary School, Victoria

Description

IdentifierUMA-SRE-20110079Extent1 boxScope and ContentThe file in this series relate to Stawell District Hospital and Portland Primary School, Victoria.
This series is one of several series containing electoral correspondence from the Electoral Office of J M (Malcolm) Fraser. The correspondence relates primarily to representations from individuals or interest groups associated with his constituency, the electorate of Wannon in Victoria’s Western District. A significant number of the representations, however, originated from elsewhere and are not, strictly speaking, ‘electorate’. The series covers Mr Fraser’s entire 28 years in federal politics (1955–83), although most records date from the early 1960s.
Throughout his political career, Malcolm Fraser took a close interest in a wide range of matters affecting his electorate, regional Victoria and Australia more generally; and received numerous representations from both his own constituents and others outside his electorate. As a Minister, his personal staff estimated he received some 6,000 letters each year; as Prime Minister the total number was considerably higher. Responses were frequently based on advice from his own department, from another Commonwealth Minister or a Victorian State Minister. This advice was often passed directly to the enquirer, but there were also many instances where advice was based on Ministerial information obtained in confidence or from a departmental brief, that was communicated more selectively. From the files, it is clear that Mr Fraser’s access to such information was considerably more limited during the times he sat as a backbencher.
The representations cover a very wide range of subjects including public facilities (e.g. aerodromes, hospitals, provision of flags, television, telephone and postal services), business interests, educational institutions, community organisations, projects and events in Western Victoria; and Commonwealth policy matters relating to primary industry (e.g. wool, export of live sheep), defence, national service and immigration. In many such cases, Mr Fraser’s Ministerial and electorate interests were both involved. More personal representations usually relate to a constituent’s financial affairs, property, health or social service benefits (e.g. pensions, housing) and include requests for letters of introduction. Some other files relate specifically to the Liberal Party or another organisation (e.g. Australian Conservation Foundation).ArrangementThis series of electoral correspondence is arranged by file title (lexicographical), as are other series of electoral office correspondence 2005.0073, 2005.0107, 2007.0012 (formerly NAA M1274/1-3).
The items in this collection have retained the original arrangement with which they were received from the National Archives of Australia (NAA)Archival HistoryThe records have been part of the Prime Ministers’ Papers Project carried out by Collection Development at the NAA in September 2004. Under this project the arrangement of the records has been checked and the records re-housed as necessary.Collection CategoryCommunity and PoliticalAccess StatusOpen for public accessRequest Access to RecordsRequest records from this Series

Unit

2011.0079 Unit 0001

Provenance

CreatorFraser, John Malcolm

Dates

Date1976-1983

Description Control

Previous System ID2011.0079Other IDsNAA ID » NAA VA1983/338State of ListFully listedDescriptive NoteThis list has been compiled from a detailed list created by NAA that accompanied the records when they were transferred in July 2011. Items not listed have not been transferred to the University of Melbourne Archives (UMA) and remain in the custody of the NAA.

Relationships

Feature CollectionThe Malcom Fraser Collection

University of Melbourne Archives

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[UMA-SRE-20110079] Files relating to Stawell District Hospital and Portland Primary School, Victoria